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D. Experience-Based Knowledge

Earlier you considered two important sources of evidence: the best available research and policies about transition. Experience-based knowledge is another source of evidence to help guide your decision-making. Experience-based knowledge is the “know-how” that comes from solving problems, overcoming barriers, and making decisions in everyday life.

CONNECT staff identified parents and practitioners from around the country who have experience-based knowledge on the topic of early childhood transition and invited them to share their views. These knowledgeable spokespersons are:

Mary Jo Paladino

Ms. Paladino is the mother of six children so she has had the joy of experiencing many transitions. She has worked in early intervention since 1989 in Colorado and Indiana. She is currently consulting with the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine on a Community Integrated Systems of Services grant with a focus on transition and Medical Home.

Brenda Mullins

Ms. Mullins’ experience as a preschool teacher, an administrator in a private agency early care and education program, and at the Human Development Institute with the Kentucky Early Childhood Transition Project, has allowed her to serve families for over thirty years.

Joseph Anderson

Mr. Anderson is the father of five children, four of whom received early intervention services. He has committed his life to advocating for and mentoring families and youth both through his career in early intervention and by serving on numerous local, state and federal committees.

Patricia Ojeda

Ms. Ojeda is a Bilingual Information Specialist at the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) serving the families of children with disabilities. The Autism spectrum diagnosis given four years ago to one of her two children significantly changed what she thought her role in life would be. She decided to learn more about special needs resources and committed herself to helping Latino families who have children with special needs navigate through the maze of educating their children.

Now listen to clips from phone interviews with those participants and identify important considerations to keep in mind during transitions.

Ms. Paladino is the mother of six children so she has had the joy of experiencing many transitions. She has worked in early intervention since 1989 in Colorado and Indiana. She is currently consulting with the Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana University School of Medicine on a Community Integrated Systems of Services grant with a focus on transition and Medical Home (running time: 2 min. 17 sec.).

One of the things I did in preparation for this is to go to send some of the questions out to some of the other family members that I know throughout Indiana just asking them to share their thoughts as well. And one of the things that bubbled to the top in almost everybody’s comments was how important the communication is. And the communication between friendly receiving partners, the team that the family has been working with, clear communication just seems to be the most important piece. Are all the parties communicating the information? One of the examples would be when you’re working with whomever you’re working with and you’re preparing for this next step. What typically happens is new people are involved and the way those people are introduced is key. The personal invitation that happens with the family: “I would like to invite you to meet the teacher at the school” or “the person that’s at Head Start that will likely be the teacher for your child” and then taking the step to have that personal face to face introduction. What it does is demonstrates that the person you’re working with has already networked and knows people in the community and with that introduction it builds the invitation to trust the relationship.

Ms. Mullins’ experience as a preschool teacher, an administrator in a private agency early care and education program, and at the Human Development Institute with the Kentucky Early Childhood Transition Project, has allowed her to serve families for over thirty years (running time: 2 min. 17 sec.).

If I could encourage someone new to this program or new to this work situation and working with families and children I would say that building good strong solid professional relationships that accept families where they are, that create an atmosphere or a climate of mutual respect, that also shows respect from a sending agency about a receiving agency because families can sense if there’s any kind of hesitation on the part of one provider about another. And so in order to help families feel secure in the transition process. There has to be that inter agency collaborative relationship building that has taken place. As transition must happen over a period of time so must that family and their information gathering take place over time. They can’t absorb everything like a sponge, just quick, you know. It has to be, it has to be delivered over a period of time to where they can absorb it and then have opportunities for questions. And, and that will create that engagement of the family as they feel respected and needed and really their child’s first teacher. Then that relationship is going to be expanded to others that they meet along the way.

Mr. Anderson is the father of five children, four of whom received early intervention services. He has committed his life to advocating for and mentoring families and youth both through his career in early intervention and by serving on numerous local, state and federal committees (running time: 0 min. 34 sec.).

And every time we would meet we would talk about the transition process. How to prepare, you know, what things you need to be asking for talking to the schools. Let’s make this as less threatening as possible. And so, I would use my team because we had some providers that were in dual roles, some who were independent contractors, some who worked for the schools. So if they worked with those families I would use them also to help the families fill in easily.

Ms. Ojeda is a Bilingual Information Specialist at the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center (PEATC) serving the families of children with disabilities. The Autism spectrum diagnosis given four years ago to one of her two children significantly changed what she thought her role in life would be. She decided to learn more about special needs resources and committed herself to helping Latino families who have children with special needs navigate through the maze of educating their children (running time: 2 min. 17 sec.).

The first day we actually drop him at school it was a crowd of children, a bell, and many teachers who just told him, you know, just stay with us. So I delivered my boy to the teacher, to the lovely teacher, but still I was very anxious and then he just he stay there and he just cried and cried the teachers told me just leave and I left. And then we went to have a coffee close by to wait, that is, hour to pick him up. And I really thought that I was fainting because I was. I was very anxious about what was going to happen and how was he going to feel if he was going to feel that mommy’s not there anymore and all these anxieties. So basically what I started doing was trying to help him realize that he won’t be alone that he will be back home after his day at school. And I asked permission to take pictures of several parts of the school including the entrance, and his class and the things they have organizing his class, several spaces they have and at the end I included him coming back in the bus and mom will receive him. So that really helped him I think. He loves the pictures and the album pictures and that reassured him that he was going to be back to his house. They should probably, if they have a chance, meet one on one with the family because we, I remember they did an open house and then we had a chance to you know, talk and see but it is not the same, if they meet at the house that would be great. Because it’s not the same to, you go to a place and you are the stranger in the place and that they go to your house and see what the child has been exposed to before going to school. Like in every sense you know, what is his environment, what does he like, what language do they speak at home, what does he understand.

Supplemental Materials

Research conducted by The National Early Childhood Transition Center (NECTC) identified transition practices and strategies that practitioners, families and administrators considered important in supporting children and families in the transition process. For more information about these practices see:

National Early Childhood Transition Center (NECTC)Technical Report #3Recommended Transition Practices for Young Children and Families

NECTC Technical Report #6 A Critical Incident Study of the Transition Experience for Young Children with Disabilities: Recounts by Parents and Professionals

The contents of the site were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education, #H325J070007. However, those content do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.